Peru's presidential runoff between Fujimori and Sánchez remains too close to call

More than 27 million Peruvian voters went to the polls Sunday to choose their next president in a runoff between right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori of Fuerza Popular and left-wing leader Roberto Sánchez of Juntos por el Perú.

With almost than 94 percent of ballots counted, Fujimori held 50.006 percent of valid votes while Sánchez received 49.994 percent, a margin of less than one hundredth of a point. Earlier partial counts with 47 percent of votes tallied showed Fujimori at 52.74 percent and Sánchez at 47.2 percent.

Quick-count projections based on representative samples of polling stations had indicated a narrow Sánchez victory of 0.6 percentage points. According to a rapid count by polling firm Ipsos and Transparency International, Sánchez would obtain 50.3 percent and Fujimori 49.7 percent. Alfredo Torres, president of Ipsos, characterized the result as a "technical tie" given the difference falls within the margin of error of 1.9 percent.

The outcome of the election will ultimately depend on votes cast abroad. Electoral authorities said the final winner would not be known until mid-July.

The runoff followed a first round held 33 days earlier, which was marked by logistical failures and unproven fraud accusations. That first round featured an unprecedented 35 presidential candidates and the country's largest electoral roll in history. The National Electoral Processes Office, or ONPE, faced criticism for organizational inefficiency, leading to the departure of its head, Piero Corvetto. Bernardo Pachas was appointed to lead the agency during the runoff.

Sánchez addressed supporters Sunday evening from a balcony in the historic center, wearing a Cuzco hat, calling the day "the day of the recovery of democracy." Fujimori appeared later, stating that "there is no winner in this contest" at that moment.

This is Fujimori's fourth attempt to win Peru's presidency. She previously lost runoff elections in 2011 to Ollanta Humala, in 2016 to Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, and in 2021 to Pedro Castillo.

The election takes place as Peru has seen eight presidents in the past decade.